CALIFORNIA

The Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

Harbor seals soaking up the sun.

A close up of the cutest one, who posed a lot like my kitty Sophie does. Her belly reminds me of Sophie too.

The idea of living with the threat of tsunamis fascinates me. I guess we all have something, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes or tsunamis. Clearly, I watch too much Discovery Channel. I don't think the poor guy in the sign is gonna make it.

Our stop for the night, Monterey Bay.

We flew into San Francisco this afternoon and drove south until we got onto the Pacific Coast Highway. We drove through Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz and past acres and acres of artichoke farms and strawberry fields near towns like Watsonville and Salinas. We stopped at the Pigeon Point lighthouse about 60 miles north of Monterey. The light station there was built in 1872. The lighthouse was built taller than they usually are (115 feet) and can be seen 17 miles out to sea because this stretch of coast was particularly treacherous to passing ships. In 2001 a piece of the iron belt that encircles the lighthouse rusted through and broke off leaving the structure vulnerable to collapse. An earthquake or bad windstorm could spell the end for the building which houses a thousand piece Fresnel Lens that when it was built was state of the art. The light still functions and steers ships away from the rocky coast on foggy nights. We stopped here a couple of years ago and I'm sorry to say that not much seemed to have changed. I know that California has a budget crisis like every other state, but I think it would be a shame to let such an important part of California history go without a fight. Read more here.